


Alternate Meeting

by quinnfabs



Series: Friendship Writing Challenge [7]
Category: Glee
Genre: AU, Gen, slight samcedes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-14
Updated: 2015-02-14
Packaged: 2018-03-12 09:54:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3352298
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quinnfabs/pseuds/quinnfabs
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"you looked really uncomfortable so i’m pretending to be your bff"</p>
            </blockquote>





	Alternate Meeting

**Author's Note:**

> AU of season 5 (aka everyone is in NY) but Mercedes was never in New Directions/Lima so she doesn't know any of them.

Mercedes is sitting at the bar, sipping her vodka soda. She’s trying to remember why she even came here in the first place. She regrets coming here by herself, she thought it would be a good way to get her mind off her ex, off the fact that she moved to a completely new city on a whim because LA wasn’t inspiring her anymore. She didn’t seem to realize how hard it was to actually get to know people here, but a bar probably wasn’t the best place to go looking for new friends. Not with the way she looks into the dance floor and just sees amultitude of couples, grinding and kissing. She’ll get through it, over her ex, she’ll make the best of it, she always does. But right now, sitting at the bar all by herself, a little drunk already, she’s too busy wallowing in self-pity to think about anything else.

She’s wondering if coming to New York was even a good idea in the first place, when she notices this guy start to approach her. He seems nice enough, at first, but she really  _is not_ in the mood to get hit on today, she’d rather just dance a bit and then go home,  _by herself._ She tells the guy as much, and he only gets more persistent, for some reason. Like he’s made it a challenge to make her change her no to a yes and she’s getting a little scared. She looks around frantically, looking for an exit, hoping someone will notice the way this guy’s hand is slowly creeping up her thigh. She shifts away more, shoves him further, and her head’s spinning a little from the vodka she’s been drinking but she just wants to  _get away_

Suddenly she feels someone’s hand on her shoulder, and she almost jumps, but when she turns to look at the face, she hears him say “Hey, you! I thought I lost you for a second there. C’mon” and she’s not so scared anymore.

He drags her away to a table at the side and the other guy looks pissed but he doesn’t seem to want to bother them, and she’s grateful.

“Um.” She says

“Sorry, that guy just seemed like such a creep and you looked super uncomfortable, are you okay?” he says, concerned.

“I am now.” She responds with a relieved smile.

She continues, a little hesitant. “I’m really thankful, I am. But I just got out of a relationship, and even though you’re super cute I just don’t think…”

The guy laughs and she feels a little offended before he says “Don’t worry, I’m gay. My roommate wanted to go out tonight, but then she ditched me for her girlfriend over there,” he says, nodding his head in the direction of a pretty black-haired girl and another edgy looking girl with bright blue streaks in her hair.

“So you decided to play Prince Charming, save a damsel in distress?” she grins, watches him grin back.

“Just helping out. I’ve known my share of creeps, didn’t feel right to not do anything”

“Well, thank you. I really do appreciate it.”

He smiles back, “I’ve always thought the best cure to a break up is a little dancing, care to join?”

“I thought you were gay,” she jokes, before grabbing his hand. He seems like a nice guy, harmless. And he did save her, after all.

He’s halfway to spinning her before he introduces himself, “I didn’t realize how rude I was being, I’m Kurt” he shouts, over the loud thrumming of the music. She responds, “Mercedes” as they finish the spin. After a few dances, spinning around like idiots, they decide to take a break, so they head back to the bar.

They’re both sipping their drinks, leaning against the bar, when Mercedes realizes that this is probably the most fun she’s had since she got to New York. And with a complete stranger, no less. Kurt’s hilarious, and smart and so cool. So she’s a little sad that this is probably going to end after tonight, it’s not really normal practice to ask someone for a phone number that you just want to be friends with, right? She’s weighing the pros and cons of asking if they can hang out later, she did just meet him once, after all, before she notices that Kurt’s staring to say something.

“…so would you want to come see us play?” He finishes

“Um. Sorry, what was that?”

He grins again. “I was just rambling about this new band that I started. The two of them,” he points back to the two girls he was talking about earlier, “and some of our other friends are in it. We’re still kinda new, so we’d love all the support we could get.”

So this guy sings too? Wow, just when she thought he couldn’t get any cooler. “I’d love to see you guys perform! Us wannabe artists gotta stick together, right?”

“Wait, you sing too?” he exclaims excitedly, before saying “What am I saying? Of course you do, 90 percent of the people in this city are either singers or actors.”

She laughs, and hands him her phone, asking him to put in his information. He does, easily. Adds in the address of their gig and she promises to be there.

Later that week, after she’s done seeing the band, she’s thoroughly impressed. She figured they’d be alright, but they were a _mazing,_ each of them with their own unique talent, and it helps that their other friend in the audience, with the short blonde hair is actually the funniest person she’s ever met. Pretty cute too.

She tells Kurt as much, and he laughs. Thanks her for the compliment, and tells her that the guy, Sam, is single, with a wink. She blushes, and it feels like they’ve known each other for years.

They’re all having dinner after the gig, and she shyly mentions that she’s singing at a local church over the weekend. It’s hard for her to admit that she doesn’t really have any friends in New York yet, that she doesn’t really have anyone else to ask. Sam and the others nod eagerly, excited at the prospect. Kurt visibly tenses a little next to her, and she’s ready to brush it off immediately. Apologize for over stepping, these people aren’t really her friends yet, she only just met them. She doesn’t mean to impose, she just thought…

But before she can say any of the words that are threatening to bubble up out of her, Kurt responds, “That sounds wonderful. And like you said, us wannabe artists gotta stick together” with a small smile.

(When they’re at the church, after she’s finished singing, and she notices that most of them have tears in their eyes, Kurt tells her why he was apprehensive before, how he hasn’t really had the best experiences in churches before. He says that he’d sit in every church for the rest of time if he got to hear her sing like that again. She laughs, bright and easy, and promises him that she would never force him to believe something that he didn’t. And that she’d sing for him whenever he wanted.)

Mercedes stares at the mirror, when she’s getting ready for bed that night, and she thinks that moving to New York was probably the most impulsive, reckless decision she’s ever made. She left everything she knew on a whim, and it could have gone so, so wrong. But it didn’t. It hasn’t. She has new friends, she feels happier, stronger, more inspired. With possibilities at every corner, with people that have the most heart, charisma, and kindness that she’s ever seen, she finally understands why they call this city that never sleeps. And she’s so glad she gets to experience it all. 


End file.
